When it became apparent that traits and their corresponding genes could be tracked through chromosomes by molecular methods, it was realized that the underlying bases of many genetic diseases could be elucidated. Soon after linkage analysis was first proposed in 1980 (Botstein et al., Am. J. Hum. Genet. 32: 314–331), Dr. Lap-Chee Tsui embarked on his pursuit to identify the gene that is affected in cystic fibrosis. Cystic fibrosis is inherited in an autosomal recessive pattern and its causal gene did not reveal itself easily. In the early 1980s, chromosomes were largely unexplored, as much less than 1% of the human genomic sequence was available. Further, while known genes numbered in the few thousands, there were only a few hundred landmarks available to actually track chromosomal segments. In these early days, Dr. Tsui and his colleagues began collecting data on families of patients with cystic fibrosis with the help of the Canadian Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.
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